


To Space And Back

by MikeyTheGayOverlord



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikeyTheGayOverlord/pseuds/MikeyTheGayOverlord
Summary: This is a sad one part story about a couple of roommates at a children's hospital who both have lung cancer. *This probably won't be entirely accurate, but I'm doing my best.*





	To Space And Back

I am James Mitchell. I am fourteen years old and a current resident at some children's hospital in North Dakota. In this lonely little hospital, we have roommates. My roommate is a seven year old boy with the same thing I've got; lung cancer. Luis Wood, my charming roommate with hope to spare, comes from a poor family. His parents shove everything they have at the doctors, in hopes they can save their son. Most of us here are bald; some choose to wrap things around their heads to hide them or keep them warm. Not Luis. His goddamn smile alone warms the room up, I swear.

 

Luis has been waiting for the Make a Wish people to come and visit us. He tells me every time that he'd wish to be cured. "Look at all the amazing things they do!" He giggles from the other side of the partially closed curtain, after dark. "They can cure me. And you, too, James!"

 

"Mh hmm," I'll quietly agree, "But you have to go to sleep. Don't worry, the doctors will tell us when they come for us."

 

"Mh hmm," He'll whisper back, "Soon. Really soon, James."

 

One day, as Luis is with the doctors in another room for his weekly check-up, the Make a Wish people  _do_ show up, just not for Luis. A cameraman follows behind him, with a reporter. "James Mitchell, you have been chosen to make a wish!" A man in a suit announces.

 

"No," I say.

 

My half of the room is closer to the outside window, so Luis won't see them when he comes in. "There is a little boy on the other half of my room. When he gets back from his weekly check-up, I want you to say that  _he_ got the wish. He'll ask to be cured. Please, help his family. But no matter what he wishes, take him to the Bucknell Observatory in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, too. He  _loves_ outer space and I've been looking for observatories in case we get out. Tell him it's even got his name in it-- _Lewis_. He can't spell very well." Tears are running down my face, now.

 

The man in the suit, who had been slightly offended,  now rubbed his face and nodded. The three people mulled around until the heard the door softly creak open. "Alright, Luis," a doctor cooed, "hop right up in bed. Awesome! Alright, let me hook this back up... There we go! All set!"

 

"Hey, Luis," I call out.

 

"James! Dr.Nelson gave me a plushie teddy bear! I wanna put it on my shelf. Can you help?"

 

"Sure, bud," my voice cracked, "but first, I have a little something for you. Some people came in looking for an amazing young man, but I told them they had to wait, because the king shouldn't be disturbed. Is His Majesty accepting visitors?"

 

Luis laughed. It was such a golden laugh, slowly turning into a cough. Damn cancer. "His Majesty is ready, Jester!"

 

I pressed a hand over my mouth, tears falling down my face as if they couldn't wait to soak my pillow. I pressed the button for the nurse to come back in. Soon, Nurse Jewel (my favorite nurse) came right up to my bed, slightly baffled at the three strangers in my room half. In a quiet whisper, I explained what was going on and she nodded, unhooking my IV. Slowly standing up, sucking air through my nose tube, I waved for the three adults to follow me. Pushing aside the hospital curtain, I did a small bow and Luis beamed. "Your Majesty," I waved my hand behind me.

 

The man in the suit smiled widely. "Your Majesty, King Luis, we have traveled very far to bring you a gift; A wish!"

 

Luis bounced up and down, excitedly. "I can wish for anything?"

 

The man nodded. "Anything."

 

"I wish to be cured! And James, too!"

 

The man gave a small bow. "Certainly! So, I've heard you enjoy space?"

 

Luis' eyes lit up. "How would you like to visit an observatory? Bucknell Observatory in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania."

 

Luis turned to look at me. "James! Did you hear that?  _Luis_ -burg!"

 

I shuffled over to his bed and bent down to hug him, "I heard it, bud. That's awesome! When do you wanna leave?"

 

"Tomorrow!" He started bouncing again, but a little bit more tiredly. "I wanna go now, but I'm tired. I'll bet James is, too. He never stays up late with me to talk.  _Never_."

 

The man in the suit nodded. "I think we can make that happen."

 

He turned to the two behind him, nodded, and walked out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Your Majesty."

 

Luis giggled. Nurse Jewel turned to both Luis and me. "Now get to bed, you two. We'll have everything ready for you in the morning." 

 

Nurse Jewel walked to the door and clicked off the light. "I can't believe they finally came for us!" Luis whispered.

 

"I know." I whispered back.

 

"Go to sleep, now."

 

Luis was silent.

 

"Good night, James. And thank you."

 

"Thank me for what?"

 

"For being my friend."

 

I drew in as deep of a breath as I could without my ribs stabbing. "No problem, Luis. You're a good friend."

 

The room was silent until, a few minutes later, the soft  _in_  and _out_ of breath echoed from Luis' bed.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next day, Luis and I found that Nurse Jewel had packed us each an extra shirt and jeans in a bag. The ones intended for the journey were folded neatly on top of our bags. "You'll be riding in a plane there, dropping things off at a hotel, going to the observatory, going back to the hotel, and flying back tomorrow afternoon," She over viewed our next two days.

 

Luis was so excited, I don't know how he managed to stay in Earth's orbit. He wasn't so excited about the plane ride, however. It was a very small, private plane. The man in the suit, Mr.Graham, and a nurse sat in the row beside Luis and me, who was tightly gripping the arm rest. My hand was on top of his, warm and reassuring, for almost an hour until he relaxed. Luis really liked the hotel room. There were two beds and a couch, lush red carpet, and a bathroom with a large tub and shower. Mr.Graham immediately took the couch, saying that the nurse could take one bed, and that it was up to Luis if he wanted to sleep by the nurse or by me. He happily chose to set up next to me. Waiting for night time, Luis and I entertained ourselves with the arcade and dipping our feet in the pool. Looking at the diagrams of constellations was breath taking enough, but when they opened up the dome of the observatory, Luis immediately laid down on the floor on his back. A gibbous moon was set in the black curtain of night, almost dead center of the open dome. Stars were like salt sprinkled around, some glowing red, others glowing pale icy blue. I waited for Luis to point out the constellations he knew, but he laid there, silently, gawking for hours at the clarity of the night. We had all been given glasses to reduce the glare off the moon and stars, giving us all a crystal clear view of everything draped across the sky. "I want to go to space and never return." Luis whispered to me, fifteen minutes before the moon slid almost out of view.

 

Upon returning to the hotel, we all noticed how quiet Luis was. At first, I had joked that he was literally star-struck, but now I was worried. We all traded off pillows and blankets, at one point having to call up for more pillows. I was curled up against the wall, and Luis insisted on curling up behind me. It was a little odd, being big-spooned by a twitchy seven year old, but I was alright with it. My serenity didn't last long.  _Why would it?_ I woke up to Luis in a coughing fit, sitting on the edge of the bed with the nurse rubbing his back, Mr.Graham with his phone at the ready. When Luis started sputtering up blood, his phone was put to work. But even with the EMTs administrating oxygen, it was no use. Luis slowly stopped coughing, his breathing coming out raggedly. I held on to his hand for the whole ordeal, EMTs be damned. I just about started screaming when his small hand started to relax around mine, his crazy coughing and sputtering sizzling down. And that was it. _Luis had gotten what he wanted_ , I thought bitterly as the plane took off, again. He went to the observatory with me, but I left without him.  _He got to go to space and never return._

 

 

_The End._


End file.
